Wonder Woman: Blood (Volume 1)

DC Comics

Wonder Woman:  Blood (Volume 1)
Brian Azzarello
Cliff Chiang
Tony Akins
2012

The Summary
"Wonder Woman is a woman apart.  Raised as a daughter by the Queen of the Amazons, the warrior princess Diana is different from her countrywomen.  They've all heard the legend of how she was formed from clay to give the childless Queen the daughter she dreamed of--and they treat her like an outsider and outcast because of it, no matter how hard she fights for justice as a super hero in the outside world.

"But far from the Amazons' Paradise Island, the gods of Olympus are playing their own dark games.  The prodigal sun Apollo is making his move for Father Zeus' vacant throne, and both vengeful gods and innocent humans are caught in the crossfire.

"And at the beating, bloody heart of the conflict?  Wonder Woman, and a secret that will shatter everything she thought she knew.  Wonder Woman is about to learn the truth about her origin.  And when she does, blood will run..."

The Good
Wonder Woman.

What more is there to say?

The Bad
I struggled with Wonder Woman:  Blood (volume 1).

I like Wonder Woman--I mean, c'mon, she's amazing.  How could I not like her?--and I like Greek mythology, so the narrative threads were fascinating as all the pieces and relationships of the Greek gods started to come together; however, I wasn't enchanted by this first volume of Wonder Woman.  It just wasn't my cup of tea.

I was honestly a little disappointed, especially since I came into this comic with such high expectations.  I'm a fan of powerful, self-sufficient women (if that's not apparent from my infatuation with Rejected Princesses), and I love the idea of Wonder Woman, who is a warrior first and foremost, a protector and provider and a guardian for women everywhere; however, I'm not so sure how much I like her character in practice.

It's difficult to describe, but let me put it this way: I like Batman, because he's human and he's deeply flawed.  I like Superman, because he's an alien who grew up in Kansas and he's good to the best of his ability.  Likewise, I like Aquaman, because he's half-human/half-Atlantean and he struggles daily with his dueling identity.  And all these characters have one thing in common:  they were raised, in my opinion, in a recognizable place and fashion.

I mean, think about it.  Bruce Wayne had a semi-traditional upbringing, as traditional an upbringing a multi-billionaire can have; likewise, Superman grew up in Kansas and experienced a completely normal childhood.  And, while I'm a little fuzzy on Aquaman's adolescence, I know he had a human father and he grew up with pretty normal, human experiences.

Diana, on the other hand, was trained as a warrior from birth, learned to worship the Greek gods.  She was raised on Paradise Island with a different set of beliefs and a completely different set of rules, which makes it difficult to relate to her on a personal level.  She's amazing, but she's evokes a distant kind of admiration.  Like how you might admire a lioness:  she's beautiful and deadly and you're glad she's in the world, but she's best appreciated from afar.  (A strange analogy, I know, but it just felt right.)

The Ugly
Read the subtitle:  blood.

This is a book that hinges on violence.  Trust me when I say there's plenty of gore to go around.